Digg Favorites Slapped By Google — For a company such as Google with a stock price based extensively on anticipated growth and public sentiment, it doesn't take a huge swing in goodwill to have a dramatic effect on valuation. Google has just slapped their biggest fans.

Google Declares Jihad On Blog Link Farms — A major Google page rank update has punished large scale blog link farms and similar sites indulging in heavy cross linking by dramatically cutting their Google page rank scores. — There is some suggestion that the changes may be related …

Google's PageRank Update Goes After Paid Links? — Seems like there is a PageRank update taking place now that seems to be impacting sites that sell links. Can't say that we were not warned about this? Danny Sullivan wrote Official: Selling Paid Links Can Hurt Your PageRank Or Rankings …

ProBlogger - PageRank 4 — Wow - this is an interesting one. — ProBlogger's page rank is currently at a 4 - and so is Digital Photography School. — I'd heard blogs had been penalized in their page rank recently for selling text links - bizarre thing is that neither of these two blogs sell links.

Sync your inbox across devices with free IMAP — There are two online petitions I've signed in my life. One was for a "Xena: Warrior Princess" movie. The other, which I signed a few months before starting at Google, was for Gmail IMAP. As some of you know, IMAP is the best way to access …

Gmail gets IMAP — It appears that Google is working on integrating IMAP into Gmail. Download Squad reader eD! Thomas sent in a tip letting us know he came across the new IMAP setting while snooping around Gmail. However, it is only appearing in select few Gmail and Google Apps for domains accounts at the moment.

Gmail Supports IMAP — One of the most requested Gmail features was the addition of IMAP support. POP is nice, but IMAP is a much better option. Among the advantages, you're always connected to the server, more clients can connect to the same account, you can obtain the text …

Free IMAP for Gmail — When I joined Google a little over a year ago, I'd been working in the same field for several years and I wanted to do "something different." It seems I got my wish: together with an excellent team, I helped develop IMAP for Gmail. And today, we're starting to roll it out on every device, for free.

ONLINE FACEOFF — M'SOFT AND GOOGLE DUKE IT OUT OVER HOT SITE — Google is threatening to once again beat rival Microsoft to the deal punch, this time in the white-hot Facebook investment sweepstakes. — Microsoft and Google are each vying to take a stake of between 5 percent and 10 percent …

Sorry, Microsoft, Google Has Already Won Facebook War — The Post suggests that our prediction of a month ago is coming true: Either Google will run off with Facebook, leaving a jilted Microsoft (MSFT) fuming at the altar, or Microsoft will have to pay a king's ransom to win the bidding war—just as it did with aQuantive:

In Foray Into TV, Google Is to Track Ad Audiences — Google, which dominates the market for advertising on the Internet, seems to be hoping to do the same thing on television. — The company is set to announce a partnership today with the Nielsen Company, the voice of authority …

Panic + Leopard — Hooray! Leopard is almost upon us! It's the next great update to Mac OS X, which, to be honest, I'm genuinely excited about, and that you will be probably installing onto your very Mac sometime around exactly 6:04 PM on Friday. Am I rite? — Of course, Panic is all about these things.

Platforms want to be free — The network effect is being repriced to zero. — On October 18, eBay cut its "insertion fees" - the fees it charges sellers to list products on its site - by 33% or more across the board. The discount remains in effect through November 5 and is …